


Waking

by Koren M (CyberMathWitch)



Category: NCIS
Genre: Aftermath, Episode Tag, Episode: s07e01 Truth or Consequences, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-28
Updated: 2013-04-28
Packaged: 2017-12-09 18:25:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/776590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyberMathWitch/pseuds/Koren%20M
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sleeping and waking - for awhile she floats between them.  (The journey home from Somalia.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waking

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this ages ago (October 2009), but while working on a fic response to "Berlin" I realized I'd never posted it on AO3, so here it is. 
> 
> It's just an atmospheric sort of feels piece, which can be read as 'shippy (T/Z) or not, depending on how you choose to see it.

She dozes in the Jeep that takes them across the desert to the airstrip. It's McGee's gentle hand on her arm that wakes her and guides her up the ladder and to her seat on the plane. It's not a cargo plane this time, but a real civilian-style craft, with (relatively) comfortable seats and bathroom facilities. She makes use of the tiny sink to clean herself up a bit, and sits still while the medic on board fusses with her injuries, then wraps her in a blanket. The warmth and gentle hum of the engines are enough for her to nod off.

She wakes again while they're over the Atlantic when someone she doesn't recognize hands her a sandwich and bottle of juice. After eating them, she makes her way back to the small bathroom. She's hyper aware that she hurts all over and is moving like an old woman might.

When she comes out, Tony is still asleep. He'd crashed hard once the adrenaline had worn off and left the cocktail of drugs he'd been injected with behind to run their course. His snoring and McGee's tapping on a keyboard are the only sounds she hears.

Gibbs isn't with them on the plane, and Ziva is both disappointed and relieved. Her seat is next to Tony's, but out of arm’s reach and she curls herself back up in a ball under her blanket and shuts her eyes.

The next time she wakes up, it's Tony standing over her, smiling in a way that's incongruous with the bruising all over his face.

"Hey, sleepy-head. Time to wakey wakey."

She stares at him, memory pulling her back to her questions about why he was there. It was an unfair advantage to ask while he was drugged, but she's always been taught to play whatever advantage she has, fair or not. 

"Where are we?" she asks softly (and everything is soft about her right now, as if all the hardness she'd grown up with has been beating out of her). She hopes it's Norfolk or D.C., but dreads that he'll say Tel Aviv.

"Washington," he clarifies and something in her chest eases. So they aren't just going to drop her back off like a naughty child being returned to her (literal) father. Not yet, in any case.

"That's... good," she finally manages, and lets him pull her to her feet. She stumbles into him just a little bit, and tries not to give into the overwhelming urge to lean against him, just for awhile.

Afterward, she isn't sure where it is that she'd expected the car to take them -her apartment is gone, of course, and she doesn't suppose that either Tony or McGee are in any mood for a sleepover - but it's still surprising to see the gates of the Naval yard appear before her. Then it's a walk that's both intimately familiar, and unreasonably terrifying, which ends with the elevator ride to their floor. _Their_ floor.

Where Abby is waiting, scooping her up in a hug while everyone else applauds. She knows the clapping isn't for her, but for the others and what they've achieved, but the hug is warm and comforting, and all for her and her alone.

It's like waking up all over again, but this time, it's for real.


End file.
